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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1981)
IPs Catholic Boy The Jim Carroll Band ATCO SD 38-132 The Rock-as-Poetry movement, a product of the Bob Dylan-pervaded Sixties, is mostly made up of rock stars whose lyrics posess certain poetic qualities. Generally, they’ve been mu sicians first and poets second Dylan, John Lennon/Paul McCartney, and Bruce Spring steen are names which come to mind. There’s an interesting sub culture associated with the genre — the poet who decides to become a rock star. The most prominent example in recent years has been Patti Smith, who has incorporated her lyrics into song structures as well as simply reciting them. There’s a new kid on the poe t/rocker block by the name of r Jim Carroll. As a poet, his credentials are pretty impres sive. He wrote his first book, The Basketball Diaries at the age of thirteen. His second volume of poetry, Living at the Movies, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. As a rocker . well, the jury’s still out. A new album and a recent concert tour have produced mixed results. The Jim Carroll Band, made up of guitarists Brian Linsley and Terrell Winn, bassist Steve Linsley, and drummer Wayne Woods, rocks out in extremely perfunctory fashion, which leaves it up to Carroll to ignite things. For a rookie rock vocalist, Carroll is reasonably success ful. He can't carry a tune, so most of the time he talks his way through his songs a la Lou Reed. He clearly believes that what he has to say is important, which both helps and hurts him. The credibility is there, but Car roll sings as if the fate of the universe hinges upon his every word, and what at first sounds powerful occasionally sounds mannered. And what of his much-touted poetic talent? He sometimes has trouble fitting his words into the rhythms of his songs, but he’s not the first writer to have that problem, and it’s not a fatal flaw. His subjects range from his her oin addiction to his religious upbringing . What matters is not whether he can master the fundamentals of poetry, but whether he can use his talent in that field to create rock songs that work as rock songs. His most successful effort is in some ways his most bizzarre, a song called "People Who Died": Teddy sniffin' glue, he was twelve years old/Fell from a roof on East Two-nine/Kathy was eleven when she pulled the plug/Twenty-six reds and a bottle of wine. The list goes on and on. Peo ple contract hepatitis, have their throats cut, get pushed in front of subways, and hang them selves in jail cells. It doesn’t seem to make sense — a rocker like that shouldn't concern any thing heavier than cars and girls. The rest of Catholic Boy ranges from fair to very good, with “City Drops Into the Night," “Day and Night,” and “Catholic Boy" deserving special notice. Carroll s lack of stage pre sence at a recent Eugene ap pearance indicates that for now, at least, the best place to hear his music is on the album. With rock apparently stalled at the edge of its musical limits, the wave of the future may very well be poet/rockers like Carroll and England's John Cooper Clarke Uneven though it is, Catholic Boy is an honest, intriguing step in that direction By Phil Bernstein ODE CLASSIFIEDS LOST & FOUND napier audio’s RELOCATION CELEBRATION ( §TDK SA-©®@ CASSETTE TAPE s3.19 \^LIMIT 10 PER CUSTOMER J VISIT OUR NEW LOCATION (2750 WILLAMETTE ST.) FOR OUR GRAND OPENING THIS THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY, JANUARY 22-25. WE HAVE INVITED FACTORY REPRESENTATIVES TO BE ON HAND TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE CONCERNING THEIR PRODUCTS. SEE SCHEDULE BELOW SHOW SPECIALS JANUARY 23rd ONLY BOSE 901 SERIES IV LOUDSPEAKERS BOSE SPATIAL CONTROL RECEIVER, REG. s168500 SPECIAL *129900 BOSE 301 SPEAKERS, BOSE 550 RECEIVER, REG. s64000 SPECIAL *399°° A DRAWING WILL BE HELD EACH HOUR FOR A FREE BOSE T-SHIRT! 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